DESCRIPTION: (adapted from application abstract) Since its genesis in 1972, the Gordon Conference on Microbial Toxins and Pathogenesis has been a primary source of information gathering and exchange for scientists in the field of microbial pathogenesis. The phenomenal advances over the last decade in understanding the mode of action of known toxins at the molecular level, the identification of common and novel virulence determinants in a variety of bacterial pathogens, and the application of new molecular, cellular, and immunological tools to address basic questions of how microbes cause disease have moved this field into the forefront of modern biology. The 1998 Conference will include 8 plenary sessions on the following topics: 1) In vivo apoptosis; 2) technology; 3) regulation of gene expression; 4) microbe-host signaling; 5) new toxins/mechanisms; 6) genomics; 7) Structural biology of toxins/virulence factors; 8) secretion of toxins/virulence factors. An additional 9th session is planned but the topic and speakers have not been decided at the time of this grant submission. This ninth session will provide the flexibility to schedule the very latest advances for the meeting so as not to "lock into" a scientific program that is out-of-date by the time the meeting actually occurs. Speakers for these sessions have been chosen to provide a mixture of senior investigators and junior investigators who may not have previously presented at a Gordon Conference. Poster sessions will supplement the plenary sessions and there will be ample opportunity for informal discussion among participants.